The dynamics of heritage

News:
Oct 14, 2016

On October 12th the first so called Heritage Academy day took place. The dynamics of heritage, participation, "heritage communities", Faro Convention and much more were intensively discussed by researchers and representatives from museums, archives and the Region Västra Götaland.

Cathrine Mellander Backman from the Swedish National Heritage Board started off by presenting the FARO Convention - Council of Europe Framework Convention on the value of cultural heritage for society. Then Daniel Brodén, researcher at University of Gothenburg, gave a summary over results from SOM-reports concerning questions about heritage with a focus on West of Sweden.

− It was very intriguing to hear about the intentions with the FARO Convention and listen to how Cathrine Mellander Backman placed the Convention in a larger context, says Monica Gustafsson, coordinator for Heritage Academy and Developer at Västarvet. It will be interesting to see how we can go on with reconsider heritage in relation to changes in society and discuss what, why and for whom we preserve. It’s definitely a challenge. The patterns that Daniel Brodén pointed out about the correlation between visiting museums in relation to perceptions regarding ideas about what is the "right" cultural heritage is interesting to follow up.

The aim of the day was to form working groups for further work within the framework of Heritage Academy and the afternoon of the 12th was dedicated to discussions in workshops as a start off for the formation of the new groups. The working groups will be connected to the Centre for Critical Heritage studies clusters and the areas of focus will be: Health, heritage, participation Globalization, heritage, participation City, environment, heritage, participation Archives, digitization, heritage, participation

Monica Gustafsson, coordinator Heritage Academy, umming up the results from the workshops.

- I'm very pleased with the day and I can see many potential projects coming out of the proposals and creative ideas that emerged during the afternoon workshop, says Anita Synnestvedt, Coordinator for the Heritage Academy and researcher at the Department of Historical Studies. We will present a summary of all the material that was produced during the day to the steering committee in mid-November. After that we have a meeting for feedback and planning ahead November 30 where all participants from the Heritage Academy day, but also others who were unable to attend the event on October 12th, are welcome to join to participate in future workshops. More information about this will be posted on our website and in our calendar. A summary of the day's results will also be published in the form of a folder that will be printed and posted on the Centre for Critical heritage Studies website.

Facts: The Heritage Academy aims to be a bridge between the academic world and the surrounding society, in line with the University’s Third Mission. It is a formalization of the objective to strengthen the dialogue between research and practice - a central intersection in the work of cultural heritage. Heritage Academy Day 2016 was the first in the line of annual major events where academia and practice come together for joint work with the cultural heritage in focus.